The present invention relates to sport balls that contain mechanisms for inflating or adding pressure to the balls. The inflation mechanisms additionally have integral pressure relief capability and/or integral pressure indication capability.
Conventional inflatable sport balls, such as basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, volleyballs and playground balls, are inflated through a traditional inflation valve using a separate inflation needle that is inserted into and through a self-sealing inflation valve. A separate pump, such as a traditional bicycle pump, is connected to the inflation needle and the ball is inflated using the pump. The inflation needle is then withdrawn from the inflation valve that self-seals to maintain the pressure. This system works fine until the sport ball needs inflation or a pressure increase and a needle and/or pump are not readily available.
In conventional sport balls, there is no easy way to relieve the pressure of the ball. A separate pressure relief device or valve may be used to relieve the pressure, or the pressure may be relieved by inserting a conventional needle into the traditional needle valve to relieve the pressure. There is also no easy way to determine the pressure of the ball. Some separate or external inflation pumps, such as bicycle style pumps, have a pressure indicator on them. Alternatively, a separate pressure-indicating device may be used to determine the pressure. Surface pressure indicating devices are also well known. For sport balls comprising self-contained pump mechanisms, it would be beneficial if the pump mechanism also had the capability to relieve the pressure of the ball and/or indicate the pressure of the ball as desired.